Archive for August, 2012

(Ethiopian Review) — The U.S. is sending a delegation consistinig of junior officials to Meles’ funeral. It is led by Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and includes Johnnie Carson, assistant secretary of state for African Affairs and Gayle Smith, director of African Affairs in the National Security Council.

Tagadalay Gayle Smith is known also to have spent time in the deserts of Tigray fighting along side the TPLF. Read more…

Note: There are a number TPLF torturers also who live peacefully in foreign countries today. Time will come when they will also be hunted down like Kefalegn Alemu, Dergue era torturer.

Aug 31, 2012, DENVER — Federal agents in Denver have arrested an Ethiopian immigrant, saying he tortured political prisoners in his home country.

Prosecutors said Friday that three former Ethiopian political prisoners identified the man they arrested last week as Kefelegn Alemu Worku (kah-FEH’-lun ah-LEE’-moo WER’-koo), saying he beat and tormented them and others in the late 1970s. They say all three picked him out of a photo lineup. Read more…

3 comments - What do you think?
Posted by admin -
31/08/2012 at 3:38 pm

Aug 31, 2012, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malasia (The Sun Daily) – IT SAYS much when the long-time rulers of two of Africa’s largest, most important nations, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Ethiopia’s Meles Zenawi, had to fly to Europe for critical medical treatment because their own nations lacked facilities and specialists.

Meles’ untimely death at 57 on Aug 20 in a Belgian hospital – probably from cancer – has left Ethiopia reeling. He and a junta of Tigrayans ruled Ethiopia’s 90.8 million people with an iron first since 1991 after they overthrew the murderous Communist Derg regime of Col Mengistu Haile Mariam. Mengistu’s Red Terror is said to have murdered tens of thousands and starved to death a million peasants. Read more…

4 comments - What do you think?
Posted by admin -
31/08/2012 at 11:16 am

The death of Meles Zenawi, under whom Ethiopia made strides despite repression, highlights the need for strong democratic institutions to maintain stability.

By Kenneth Roth

Tens of thousands of mourners gathered ins Addis Ababa to pay their respects to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, who died on August 20. (Carl De Souza / AFP / Getty Images / August 30, 2012)

August 31, 2012 (LA Times) — Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, who died last week after a long illness, liked to portray his country’s leadership as collective. But there was never any doubt about who was in charge.

As dictators go, he had much going for him. Stunningly smart, strategic, practical, he cared about his country and, by all appearances, resisted the kind of graft and corruption that has plagued many African nations. During his rule, Ethiopia’s economy expanded significantly, and he played an important role in the wider region.

But Meles’ death points up the limitations of autocratic rule. Because he failed to establish the rule of law and set up strong democratic institutions, Ethiopia is likely to face a period of uncertainty, and possibly one of serious upheaval. The odds of finding another strongman of comparable skill are remote. Read more…

1 comment - What do you think?
Posted by admin -
31/08/2012 at 12:21 am

ZURICH, August 30 (Capitalfm)- Ethiopian teenager Mohammed Aman trumped world and Olympic champion David Rudisha of Kenya in emphatic style in the men’s 800m in the Diamond League meeting here on Thursday.

This race, Rudisha’s only outing since he won gold in London earlier this month in a new world record of 1min 40.91sec, had been billed as another chance for the 23-year-old Kenyan to better his own mark.

But no one had counted on the kick of 18-year-old Aman, who finished sixth at the Olympics but who importantly last year became the first and last man to defeat Rudisha since 2009. Read more…

The outlook for many people in Ethiopia seems less than bright following the sudden death of the prime minister Meles Zenawi last week, yet as far as the country’s natural resources are concerned, the outlook is golden. Gold reserves could be a source of greater development for the country.

British firm Nyota Minerals is about to become the first foreign company to receive a mining licence to extract gold from an estimated resource of 52 tonnes in western Ethiopia. Its chief executive, Richard Chase, was involved in Tanzania’s gold boom in the 1990s. He believes Ethiopia has similar potential. “There are huge areas of relatively underexplored and unexplored prospective ground, and the infrastructure is not too dissimilar [to Tanzania], although the availability of cheap electricity is a definite plus,” he says. Read more…

11 comments - What do you think?
Posted by admin -
30/08/2012 at 10:25 am

This report contains information on a rapid field assessment of Boran pastoralists of southern Ethiopia to: (1) gauge local communities’ perceptions of the need for local climate change adaptation strategies and their degree of satisfaction with existing interventions; (2) identify emerging climate risk adaptation strategies; and (3) evaluate how existing and new strategies including efforts by non-governmental organizations and the Ethiopian government might complement or be compromised by index-based livestock insurance (IBLI). Researchers found that the Boran perceive changes in the frequency and intensity of drought conditions over the last several decades. The Boran also recognize the need to adapt to these shifts, and along with the government and NGOs who work in the region, are undertaking a number of climate change adaptation strategies. Some of these traditional and new responses to drought are likely to interact with the potential implementation of IBLI in both complementary and conflicting ways. Still, there are significant opportunities for IBLI to reduce exposure to risk while supporting existing veterinary services and rangeland management. Read more…

1 comment - What do you think?
Posted by admin -
30/08/2012 at 9:45 am

Written statement to the 21st Session of the UN Human Rights Council (10 – 28 September 2012)

Summary

August 30, 2012

Restrictions on freedom of expression and association in Ethiopia have severely limited Ethiopians’ ability to scrutinise the human rights situation in the country and to report or comment on government policy and practice, including its compliance with its international human rights obligations. These restrictions have created a context in which silence and impunity are the norm in response to human rights violations. In this context, human rights violations including torture, arbitrary detention and forced evictions are widespread but seriously under-reported, accountability for perpetrators of violations is rare and victims of violations are deprived of assistance. Read more…

Supported by the US but less popular with the TPLF, it is unclear if Ethiopia under Hailemariam Desalegn will see a continuation of Meles-style governance.

Hailemariam Desalegn at the World Economic Forum on Africa in 2011. Photograph by World Economic Forum/Matthew Jordaan.

Aug 29, 2012 (Think Africa Press) — Ethiopia is moving into an uncertain new era. With the death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi who had ruled the country since 1991, the country is moving into the realm of the unknown with regards to politics and leadership, and internal divisions within the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) – the main part of Ethiopia’s ruling coalition the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) – are already revealing themselves.

Hailemariam Desalegn, the relatively unknown deputy prime minister, has taken over the reins of power in the interim. The United States is reportedly advising the TPLF to support the premiership of Desalegn, a Wolayta from southern Ethiopia, but it is believed that some TPLF loyalists would prefer the leadership to remain in the hands of a Tigrayan. Read more…

1 comment - What do you think?
Posted by admin -
29/08/2012 at 6:40 pm

Samia Yusuf Omar was an Olympic runner whose dream was to go to Europe to train and earn money to support her family. But the dream ended with her boat journey.

By Lutfi Sheriff Mohammed and Robyn Dixon

Samia Yusuf Omar ran for Somalia at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. She drowned this year when the boat that she was taking to Italy ran into trouble at sea. (Kerim Okten/ European Pressphoto Agency / August 19, 2008)

August 29, 2012, MOGADISHU, Somalia (Los Angeles Times) — When she was 17, Samia Yusuf Omar experienced a brief moment in the international spotlight when she ran a 200-meter race representing Somalia at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Omar finished far behind other sprinters in her qualifying heat, but as a female athlete competing in the Olympics for Somalia, a country known mainly for being a failed state, she made headlines.

She also got hooked on a dream: Omar wanted to train as a runner and compete internationally for her country, and to earn money to support her family. She was determined to get to Europe, where she hoped to find a trainer. Read more…

1 comment - What do you think?
Posted by admin -
29/08/2012 at 12:51 am

August 29, 2012 (Strategy Page): Kenyan forces in Somalia still say they intend to launch an assault on the port of Kismayo. August, however, is almost over and August was supposed to be the month of the big attack on the Al Shabaab-held seaport. Kenyan naval forces have launched several gunfire attacks over the last three weeks. The attacks appear to be little more than raids intended to rattle the militiamen defending the port. One attack, however, allegedly killed several civilians. This past spring Kenyan government officials and military commanders began meeting with clan leaders in southern Somalia with the intent of getting the clans help to hammer out a political agreement for governing Kismayo and southern Somalia after Al Shabaab is evicted from the area.

Kenya doesn’t want Blackhawk Down Mogadishu type chaos in Kismayo and southern Somalia after the big attack. The code phrase for chaos the Kenyans are using is an administrative vacuum. Some of the talks have taken place in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. At least three major clans were involved in the discussions in Nairobi: the Marhan, Ogden, and Harti. If a power-sharing arrangement with the southern Somali clans has been made, no one is talking about it. Read more…

1 comment - What do you think?
Posted by admin -
29/08/2012 at 12:41 am

Sophia Tesfamariam and Elias Amare on CIUT 89.5 FM, the Taylor Report, discussing the passing of Ethiopia’s tyrant Meles Zenawi and its effect on the Horn of Africa. Sophia and Elias in this eloquent interview also discuss developments in Eritrea and Eritrea’s development model, as well as, the hegemon’s and its imperial poodles response to it. This is a must listen interview for all.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

1 comment - What do you think?
Posted by admin -
28/08/2012 at 12:30 pm

Appeal Letter of Oromo Students of Jimma University To: The Administration of Jimma University Jimma March 2, 2015 We, the Oromo students of Jimma University, are deeply disturbed by the multifaceted repression, subjugation, political marginalization, economic exploitation, and mass and indiscriminate killings that the Oromo people are subjected to by the current TPLF/EPRDF government and […]